Category Archives: 3:2 Interview

3:2 Interview

The 3:2 Interview with Gail Carriger

Welcome to the fourth 3:2 Interview, where I ask an author three writing questions and two that are decidedly not about writing at all. Today I’m delighted to have a virtual tea with Gail Carriger. Gail is the bestselling author of the Parasol Protectorate series, an intriguing and vastly amusing mashup of urban fantasy tropes, steampunk fashion, and a Victorian comedy of manners.
Her main character, Alexia Tarabotti, is soulless—a condition that grants her certain powers in a London populated with werewolves, vampires, and other creatures of the gothic milieu.
Gail’s third book, Blameless, is available today at your favorite bookstore or online here.
KH: Gail, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat.
GC: Thank you for hosting me.
KH: I know that your books are primarily written to be entertaining—at which they succeed magnificently—but I also enjoy the subtexts of various culture wars. Alexia’s Italian heritage and her soulless condition mark her as “other” in Victorian London, and she becomes associated with quite a few “others” during the course of the series. Most often she fights back against intolerance with superior fashion and manners, and I appreciate the light handling of weighty topics and that the books do not ignore the prejudices of the era (and indirectly shine light on our own). To what extent are you consciously exploring these themes? 
GC: I do tend to prefer to take as light a hand as possible with even the most weighty of matters. I enjoy frivolity in all its many forms. That said, I am aware of some of the subtext. I am consciously playing with (and spoofing) Victorian bigotry and stereotypes. Alexia has some modern sensibilities, but in the end, she is a creature of her era. As the series progresses, readers get to see how this has colored her worldview – sometimes unpleasantly. As to some of the other themes of tolerance and tea addiction, I do think that an author’s beliefs are bound to sneak into whatever she writes.
KH: Taking a break from questions of great import, I know you’re quite the tea aficionado. Right now I’m drinking Earl Grey with milk and honey, but due to being American—an incurable condition, I’m told—I’m desperately afraid that this makes me a rather pedestrian consumer. Could you educate my palate a wee bit? What sorts of teas should I seek out to mature my hopelessly American palate? And might this question be of greater import than I thought at first?
GC: Oh dear, this is quite a serious matter, indeed. I’m afraid I have never been one to condone the consumption of Earl Grey – nasty perfumey bit of business. I’m a Twinings English Breakfast gold label drinker myself. Which I have to track down and import from England specially. It’s better than the American Twinings because it can be brewed strong enough for a mouse to run across without getting bitter. It should be drunk with a healthy dollop of whole milk. The milk adds just the correct amount of sweetness. Good tea, like good espresso, should not need a sweetener. If it is so bitter it requires sugar it is either over-brewed, under-milked, or bad quality tea. Or the tea drinker his ruined his palate with something utterly plebeian like – shudder – soda.
KH: Clearly I have months of rehabilitation ahead of me. :) How much of a distraction do you find social media like Twitter, Facebook, blogs and so on? Are they gigantic timesucks that threaten your ability to write anything? How do you balance the need to promote and connect with fans with the need to meet deadlines?
GC: A terribly big distraction, but social media has been very good to me. I try to be  self disciplined about it. When I have a draft due and a deadline, I spend about two hours on social media three days a week, and do things like schedule my tweets ahead of time, or hold off on blogging to save time. If I’m really doing badly at staying on target, I remove myself to a cafe that has no wifi. It’s difficult to balance because I want to be accessible and available to my fans, but I also need to write the next book or I won’t have any fans. Luckily, they are pretty understanding when I go dark. The hardest thing is the guilt, when someone takes the time to write to me I feel awful if I don’t write back immediately.
KH: Everybody wants to know more about bookshelf porn. (I can’t back that up, but I feel instinctively that it must be true.) You introduced me to the concept via your tweets, and I love it. Methinks the world would be better off if more people indulged. Which way do your tastes tend to run? The spare minimalism of modern shelves, the quirky shapes some of them employ, or the traditional wall unit of dark wood lurking in a study or library, faintly redolent of paper and glue and perhaps pipe tobacco? 

Are you a purist who claims bookshelves are for books and naught else, or a knicknacker who believes bookshelves are enhanced by the addition of objets d’art, clocks, and maybe even action figures? What does your perfect bookshelf look like, and what might we see on it?
GC: It often surprises people but I’m a strict minimalist. I have a bit of an OCD side so I like my environment very tidy: modern or slightly Asian inspired furniture, nothing steampunk or frilly Victorian about it. To that end, I once saw a photo of someone who had organized all the books behind their couch by color. I live for that. As things currently stand, I have a mahogany bookshelf that came from my Scandinavian grandmother – very severe, on which reside all my favorite genre paperbacks and a small stack of trade sized Young Adult books. Then I have two stacks of Baedecker’s (Victorian period travel guides) and some of my more frequently referenced primary sources. I try not to buy anything in hardback. Sharing the shelf is one small framed picture, a bobble-headed gold plastic octopus, and a vase of fresh flowers.  Hidden away in the wardrobe are my “messy looking” research books.
KH: Steampunk is going mainstream, if it isn’t already there. In addition there’s dieselpunk, atompunk, and a whole lot of other punks running around threatening to make people’s lives absolutely fabulous. Why do you think all these punks are suddenly so appealing in fiction? (And by “suddenly” I mean within the last decade.) Is it the next evolutionary step in fiction, an outlet for counterculture expression, a wistful longing for what might have been, or…?
GC: I have many theories on this. Part of the appeal, I think, has to do with our own sense of chaos and impending doom in America right now. This often causes people to seek out a time period that was more rigid and controlled, full of polite manners and forms of address. Steampunk has the advantage of being connected to an aesthetic that incorporates the maker movement and even the green movement. I think that is a large part of its charm: style, conscientiousness, beauty, and escape – all rolled into one.
KH: I can empathize with that immensely—the green bit especially. Gail, thanks so much for visiting with me! I can’t wait to read Blameless, and I wish you the best of luck with it!
GC: Thank you! And good luck with your own literary future.

3:2 Interview

The 3:2 Interview with Kelly Meding

Welcome to the third 3:2 Interview, wherein I ask a spiffy author three questions about writing and two others that hopefully allow us to get to know her better as a person. (I also cheat shamelessly and work in several questions whenever I can, so you’re really getting more than five questions here.)

Today I’m very excited to have Kelly Meding with us, author of Three Days to Dead. Readers were hooked from the moment Evy Stone woke up in a morgue in someone else’s body, with only three days to figure out how she died—and why she came back. The second book in the Dreg City series, As Lie the Dead, is out today and you can snag it at your favorite bookstore or online here.
Writer’s Grove: Thanks for joining us, Kelly. I’ve recently heard that you’re going to write two more Dreg City books after As Lie the Dead, so that’s outstanding news for your fans (!!!), but I’ve also heard you have another deal for a completely different series. Could you tell us something about that, what’s in store for Evy going forward, and maybe how you handle the multitasking between writing two series (possibly more if you’re hiding them), plus blogging, reading, and networking on top of your day job?
KM: Thank you for inviting me to be a part of your interview series! I’m so glad to be here.
   I’ll tackle the Evy part of your question first.  If you thought she had a lot going on in THREE DAYS TO DEAD…well, to rely on an old cliché, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.  Evy’s going to go through the wringer, both emotionally and physically, over the next few books, but don’t fear!  She will come out a much stronger, more well-rounded person for the experiences.  There’s a lot of truth in the saying “that which doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.”
   In As Lie the Dead, Evy has to deal with the consequences of decisions made and actions taken in the first book (er, spoilers!)—the destruction of the Owlkins, her new not-dead status with the Triads, and her attraction to Wyatt.  Now that her clock has stopped counting down the hours, she has to face the complications of life in the body of Chalice Frost, and her part in the death of Alex Forrester.  Plus murder, betrayal, and magical hijinx.  You know, the usual.  Books Three and Four…well, I can’t say much about them yet.  But I’m very excited to be able to continue Evy’s story, flesh out the cast of supporting characters, and expand on the world of Dreg City.
   The new deal you mentioned is with Pocket Books, and it’s for a modern superhero story.  I have loved superheroes since I was a child, and I especially love team stories. “The New Teen Titans” of the 1980’s is my very favorite title.  But one of the things that is rarely addressed in either comics, shows or movies, is the collateral damage caused by heroes and villains fighting each other.  I wanted to write something where those hero/villain battles nearly destroyed the world (and each other), and the effect that collateral damage (ruined cities, a fearful public) would have on a new generation of heroes.  The first book in the series, WARDEN’S TRANCE, could be out as early as Summer 2011.  I’m beyond thrilled to have sold this series and to be working with Pocket.
   As for multitasking, I’m very lucky in that my day job is part-time, usually around 20 hours a week.  It gives me quite a lot of freedom to keep up with my other book-related responsibilities, such as writing, blogging, reading, and interacting with fans, as well as my family and social life.  When I was working a full-time job, my free time was more limited, but that’s when you make sacrifices—I’ll write 1,000 words instead of playing online poker for an hour; I’ll write this blog post instead of watching this movie.  It’s important, when time is limited, to prioritize.  And I’d be lost without my To Do list—it makes sure things get done.
WG: Though you probably don’t have the time to keep up with comics these days, did you read comic books when you were wee? What titles/heroes/heroines did you particularly enjoy, and why? Any graphic novels that make you purr? (I mean that in the figurative sense, but heck, if any of them literally make you purr, we probably need to know where we can get a copy.)
KM: As I mentioned above, “The New Teen Titans” (Wolfman/Perez) is my favorite.  I stumbled into it accidentally when I was eleven, because I found an issue with Robin on the cover.  I had no idea Robin had been part of anything besides Batman, so I was intrigued.  I read it, then began a several-year hunt to find every issue I could (this was before eBay, when the internet was still very, very young, so I had to actually find used comic sellers and hunt in person).  I love team stories and large casts (books, movies, whatever), and one of my favorite themes in fiction is “the family you make.”  And the Titans were very much a family.  Plus they were young!  The idea of eighteen year-old superheroes was a fabulous novelty to a tween.
   For graphic novels, I absolutely adore Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” and “Batman: Year One,” Joss Whedon’s “Fray,” Alan Moore’s “Saga of the Swamp Thing” and “Watchmen.”  I’ve also picked up the first two compilations of “Fables” and want to get my hands on “Runaways” very soon.
WG: Describe the ideal writing situation for you. Pajamas? Music? Beer? Music about pajamas and beer? Do you set goals for yourself when you sit down to write in terms of word count, or finishing a scene, or do you simply sit and say, “Well, let’s see what happens?” Do you think aspiring writers should adhere to a schedule or routine of some sort?
KM: While I’m definitely a beer gal, I don’t like to mix it with writing.  Or any alcohol with writing.  I prefer to be clear-minded and alert.  Now, I do mix alcohol with brainstorming sessions—I got an entire novel out of a pitcher of sangria once.
   I don’t know that I have an ideal writing situation.  I can write almost anywhere, in most circumstances.  But there’s nothing quite as nice as spending a day in my pajamas, writing a fun, exciting chapter, with coffee and/or chocolate within easy reach.  The goals that I set for myself tend to be weekly goals.  I think setting a daily word count can be detrimental for me, because if something unexpected happens and I can’t make my count, I feel like I’ve failed.  But giving myself a word count to shoot for by the end of seven days is more realistic.  Some days I may not be able to write; other days I have hours on end to get it done.
   And yes, I do think setting goals is very important for aspiring writers.  It’s all part of learning discipline and Butt-In-Chair techniques.  Everyone writes at a different pace, and in different methods (editing as you go versus waiting until the draft is done), but setting word count goals is a must.  Even if it’s as low as 300 words a day.  If you hit 1000 words, that’s great!  If you only manage 250, you’re close!  But set a realistic goal and aim for it.

WG: OK, so you’re a beer gal. What about coffee and tea? Will you share your favorites of each?

KG: Coffee.  Mmmm….cofffee wakes me up in the morning and sometimes puts me to sleep at night (yes, I can drink coffee and go to sleep two hours later–I am a freak of nature).  I generally prefer brewed coffee to fancier lattes or milky drinks (but I won’t turn one down if you put it in front of me).  One of my favorite coffees is Harry & David’s Chocolate Cherry beans.  So amazing when freshly ground and brewed up, with a dash of Hazelnut creamer.  I’m also recently in love with a local convenience store’s Chocolate Mint Iced Coffee.  It tastes just like a Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mint (although I have serious doubts about actual coffee content).
  Tea.  For hot tea, I’m pretty boring and will occasionally dip into a good ole cup of Lipton with milk and sugar (I know, tea enthusiasts will hate me now).  I do like bottled tea, though.  Any sort of lemon-free sweet tea. Snapple has a yummy Nectarine White Tea that’s So Good.  Nestea’s Red Tea Pomegranate Passion Fruit is also super-yummy.  I could drink that stuff by the gallon (and used to until the soda machine at work switched from Coke to Pepsi).
WG: There are rumblings out there on the Internet(s) that perhaps the market for urban fantasies featuring vampires is a bit glutted at the moment—the idea being that Twilight skewed the market in one direction and now editors are flooded with knockoffs and would rather see something else. Might this be true? Where do you think the urban fantasy genre is headed? How does one anticipate the market and come up with something fresh?
KM: I think it’s very true.  Vampire books are hard sells, unless you have something very unique in your hands.  Plus there are so many long-running, best-selling vampire series out there that in order to compete and win over those fans, you have to offer something new.  Of course, there are always readers who will pick up anything with vampires in it, and that’s awesome! But as the UF genre continues to grow, and more new authors are picked up every year, readers are given more and more to choose from, which means becoming more selective with their time and dollars.
   The thing I love most about UF is that there is still so much ground to cover.  Look at some of the books coming out this summer that feature selkies, furies, ghosts, and djinn.  There is a wealth of lesser-known creatures to explore from dozens of different cultures and myths.  I’m looking forward to reading what my fellow authors have to offer, as well as the chance to explore some of them myself.
   Honestly, I think anticipating the market is impossible.  Even editors can’t be sure what’s going to be the next bestseller, or the next hot creature.  Look at all of the literary mash-ups coming out.  The first one or two sold really, really well, but some of the online chatter I’ve seen is that people are already getting tired of them.  Some folks are saying angels are next big thing.  The best advice I usually see is “write the book you’d want to read.”  Don’t write toward trends, don’t try to write what you think will be popular.  What’s hot now might not be what readers want in two years.
WG: Kelly, thanks so much for hanging out with us! Best of luck with As Lie the Dead and your new series!
Thanks so much!  Thank you for having me and letting me babble for a while!
3:2 Interview

The 3:2 Interview with Nicole Peeler

I’m very pleased to bring you the second 3:2 Interview with a spiffy author, wherein I ask three  questions about the author’s current work, and two somewhat saucy questions in an attempt to get to know them better.
Today I’m grateful to Nicole Peeler for stopping by to metaphorically clink a beer bottle with us and shoot the breeze. Nicole is the author of the Jane True series, the second installment of which, Tracking the Tempest, is being released today. She’s under contract for six books with Orbit, so we’ll get to see plenty more of Nicole’s half-selkie heroine.
Writer’s Grove: One of the things I enjoy about your series is that Jane isn’t the typical asskicking urban fantasy heroine—the sort we always see dressed in black leather and holding something sharp and shiny. You’ve created something unusual within the genre here—even your covers set you apart from the crowd—and I’m wondering if that was an intentional act or something of a happy accident. What was behind your thinking in creating Jane? Walk us through your character creation process, if you will.
Nicole Peeler: I was inspired to write Tempest Rising by reading Dead as a Doornail, by Charlaine Harris. The idea of a heroine that wasn’t kickass blew my mind, and I thought, “I could write a character like that.” I’m too self deprecating to write a typical heroine, or even a typical anti-heroine. But Sookie was human-woman strong, and that was very inspiring to me. From that inspiration, I put together a bunch of my former and current interests, combined with what I “needed” for a character like Jane. I had Jane’s essence first: the type of woman she’d be. Then, I started working on how to supe her up. I pretty instantly hit on selkies, but then I tweaked it by making her one of the progeny of the selkie-human pairings that have inspired so many myths. The combination of selkie and human gave me a character who could be magical, yet vulnerable; human, yet supernatural; smart, yet ignorant of her new world.
WG: Every single actor who’s ever played Dr. Who is alive and well and in the prime of his life, standing before you in a replica of the Tardis. Naturally you will want to squee—it’s an irresistible urge—but due to an evil plot by the Daleks you will only get to squee for ONE of the Doctors. The bad news is that the other Doctors will disappear. The good news is that the Doctor you squee for will ask you to be his new companion, and together you will defeat the Daleks once and for all. For whom will you squee, and why? Legions of Dr. Who geeks want to know.
NP: I would squee the hell out of Christopher Eccleston. It’s the ears. And the accent. I’m always a sucker for a Northerner, of any country or planet.
WG: Your book has a vampire love interest, as many urban fantasies do. Why do you think that particular attraction has blossomed so well among both writers and readers? Can we trace everything back to Def Leppard’s song, “Love Bites,” or might there be a more significant sociological/cultural/psychological cause, or some other large college word at the root of it?
NP: I would hang everything on Great White’s “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” but that’s just me. I think there are tons of reasons we love vampires: the menace, the promise of immortality, the multiple penetration . . . by which I mean fangs, bitches. Get your minds out of the gutter. 
My book has a lot of parodical elements, and Ryu is one of them. In Tempest Rising, Jane is totally, utterly excited to have a normal, old skool sexual fling. That Ryu is someone who screams “Fling” makes it even better. The way I see it, vampires–if they really existed–would have to be one of three things: parasites, like fleas, that no one wants to read about; monstrous predators; or total gigolos. I thought the third would be the funniest and sexiest to riff on, and I thought I could play a lot with the idea of what happens when women get what we think we want. We only catch a glimpse of this idea in TR, but Tracking the Tempest really delves into Jane’s confronting what Ryu’s existence truly means. So, yeah, women have fantasies about meeting that ultimate sexual ninja who will blow their mind with his sexcapades . . . but the reality of such a man is never as glossy as the exterior. They’re fabulous for the short term, but long term? The issues rise to the surface like dead little goldfish. And nobody gets off on dead goldfish. At least, not people we discuss in public.
WG: You get to be a judge on Iron Chef America. What do you want their secret ingredient to be, and why? (No fair saying, “Bacon, because it’s bacon.” That’s too easy, because when they actually had bacon as the secret ingredient on Iron Chef America, it turned out to be a draw because everybody wins when they’re eating bacon.*)
NP: As I would eat poo if it were bacon-wrapped, I can understand your logic. Since I can’t choose bacon, I would choose Guinness. I can drink it while they cook with it, and they can make delicious things with Guinness that I’d actually want to eat. If you’ve never had a Guinness cake, you’re missing out on a little bit of heaven.
WG: How do you schedule your writing time? I’m very interested in this because you and I have similar day jobs (we teach), and I’m curious how you balance the demands of teaching with the demands of writing—and throw in the demands of drinking beer if you like.
NP: With the budget cuts at my university in Louisiana, this last semester was hell for writing. I really just wrote on weekends and breaks. I’m hoping to have a much more integrated author/professor existence at my new job, in Pennsylvania, at Seton Hill, where I’ll be teaching in the MFA in Popular Fiction. But as far as balancing is concerned, I “balance” by working pretty much all the time. I’ve become just like my mother; I live for my work. And I’m totally unapologetic about that, as I love what I do and get so much pleasure out of my books and my teaching. I am, however, hoping to have a bit more of a social life in Pittsburgh. For Jane’s sake, as well as my own. :-)
WG: Thanks so much, Nicole! Best wishes to you!
NP: Thank you, Kevin! It was great being here.
*Bobby Flay vs. Sursur Lee, 2006-2007 season, episode 12.
3:2 Interview

The 3:2 Interview with Peter V. Brett

Welcome to the first 3:2 Interview, where I ask three serious questions and two rather silly ones of an author you might not know yet but will certainly love soon.
Today’s interview is with Peter V. Brett (call him “Peat”), author of The Warded Man and its sequel, The Desert Spear, which is available right now. Peat is one of several authors, along with Patrick Rothfuss, R. Scott Bakker and Joe Abercrombie, who are breathing new life into the epic fantasy genre.

Writer’s Grove: When you set out to write your series, were there specific fantasy tropes you were consciously trying to avoid, or perhaps tweak in a new way?
Peat: I dunno, maybe unconsciously. I’ve read about a billion fantasy novels (actual number closer to 600), and I think I’ve built a good sense of what works in a story and what doesn’t, but it wasn’t like I had compiled a list of tropes to work with. I just set out trying to tell a good story.
   Oh, wait. That’s a lie. I deliberately decided to ban all swords from the series. I love a good swordfight as much as the next guy, but I felt like I’d written a thousand of them in my life, and wanted a new challenge. In the story, humanity has been reduced to a tiny fraction of its former size, and warfare between men is unheard of. Demons are so powerful that they will likely kill you if they get within striking range, so the best option is a weapon that can keep them at a distance, like a spear. Swords are impractical and obsolete.
WG: If we go to a fantastic pub with everything on tap, what do you order to drink with your greasy fried food and will you pick up the check?
P: Guinness or Killian’s Irish Red, depending on my mood. Sometimes a Jack and coke. Bacon cheeseburgers and fries are on me.
WG: The Krasian culture of The Desert Spear is the most developed culture based on the Middle East I’ve seen since Frank Herbert’s Dune—and that was science fiction. What sort of background in Middle Eastern cultures did you have prior to writing the book, and how much research did you have to do to write about this culture convincingly?
P: First off, I will confess to never having read Dune. Sacrilege, I know. I saw the movie in college, but I barely remember it.
   Regarding the Krasians, I wouldn’t say they are based on the Middle East. Flavored would perhaps be a better word. There is as much Ancient Sparta and Medieval Japan to their culture as Middle Eastern, and a whole lot of stuff I just plain made up. The result is a very unique people with a rich history and unique worldview that is all their own. They’re not meant to be a commentary on any real world culture.
   As for research… meh. I read a lot.
WG: Gandalf and Chuck Norris meet at a neutral location (say, for example, Dairy Queen) and fight to the death. Who wins and how?
P: Gandalf says some cryptic things that confuse Chuck and make him question his life’s path. He is soon weeping like a little girl into Gandalf’s white robes and begging forgiveness. Offers to beat himself up as penance. Gandalf buys him some ice cream.
   We are talking Gandalf the White, right? Gandalf the Grey would just fry his ass with a lightning bolt. 
WG: When can we expect to see book three (and is there a title yet)?
P: The series will go to five books. The title of book three is The Daylight War, and it is coming along really well, I think. I have it plotted down to minute detail, and am working on the prose. I still have a LOT of work ahead of me, so I am reluctant to make promises about when it will be available. 2012…ish?
WG: Thanks Peat!
P: Thanks for having me!